Current telephone communication is priced according to the geographical distance over which the call extends. Historically, this was due to the fact that more cable was needed to connect subscribers that were further apart than to connect subscribers that were close together. With increased mobility of subscribers and widespread use of high-speed long-distance trunk connections, this model is no longer desirable, nor does it reflect the true cost of providing the connection. One particular inconvenience is the fact that a call to the same subscriber would be charged at different rates according to where that calling subscriber happens to be. If the caller is calling from a mobile connection, there can be a large variation in the cost of the call depending on which country they are in and which provider they are using for the mobile connection. There currently exist providers of Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone services, whereby a user can make and receive calls to and from an assigned number, whereby the call is routed wholly by the Internet rather than via the normal telephone network.
There also exist so-called Over-the-Top (OTT) providers, including but not limited to social networks and online dating services, who offer a networking service via the Internet. Text messages and photographs are commonly transmitted via such services. Examples of such providers are the social networking sites such as Facebook, G+/GoogleTalk, Skype, and the dating sites. These providers have substantial infrastructures.